The present invention relates to collars and harnesses and, more particularly, to a choker-type collar for animals such as dogs and cats, head harnesses for horses, cows and the like, and body harnesses for dogs, cats or other small animals.
Heretofore animals have typically been restrained through the use of adjutable collars or harnesses which are adjusted to fit the animal and then fastened, for example, with a buckle. "Choke collars" are also used to restrain as well as train animals and are usually in the form of chains with one end thereof fed through a loop provided at the opposite end of the chain so that when the animal wearing the collar pulls away from a desired direction of travel or from a desired place, the collar will tighten about the animal's throat as a slip knot discouraging the animal from such undesirable behavior.
These types of adjustable collars are advantageous in that they tend to be relatively wide and, thus, comfortably fit about the animal's neck. However, these collars lack the obedience/control characteristic of choke collars. On the other hand, the typical chain choke collars, because one end is fed through a loop at the other end, slide across the front and sides of the majority of the animal's neck during the tightening process and can pinch its fur and skin at the site of the loop. Such choke collars also unevenly tug on the animal's neck tending to pull him in one direction irrespective of whether such movement is desired. Further, the chain can become stuck in the tightened position if the links wedge against or in the loop and the animal's master must manually release it. Finally, once tension on the collar is removed and if the links do not catch on the loop, it can become too loose for the particular animal and he may slip out of the collar itself.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a collar which can advantageously provide the comfort and fit of typical adjustable collars and yet be tightenable under tension and releasable when tension is released so as to include the obedience/control characteristics of the choke collar.
It would further be desirable to provide such a collar wherein the tightening of the collar does not disadvantageously pull the animal to the right or to the left, minimizes the likelihood of pinching of the animal's skin between the parts of the collar which move relative to one another and does not become so loose as to enable escape when tension is released.
Even further, it would be desirable to provide a collar which can be combined with one or more like collars to provide a harness structure for the heads of cattle or horses or for the chest and throat of small animals so that the collar is versatile and its use even for a particular animal can be varied in accordance with the particular immediate needs of the master.